Gracie the Chocolate Lab

[Orygoner]

Still plugging away on old Gracie.

But I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Here's a pic of the overall carving. I am mulling over the notion of making one of those little stamping tools that Bill Judt describes in his book. The background (sky) and lake need something to hide all the terrible things I did to it. Not sure it can be sanded out well enough to hide all the dents. Any suggestions???



I have been undercutting and tidying up as I've moved from the upper left counter-clockwise. I'm sure I'll have to do more touch up, but it's essentially how I think it will be as you look at the left side. Anything that jumps out at you???

Here's a little closer look at Gracie. I think that I'm probably going to put some hair on her, but not yet decided on that either. Will do a bit of practicing to see if I like what I get.

Another question relates to her eye. Do you think I should carve out a hollow pupil?



Lastly, a detail shot on my geese. This is another "borrowing" from Bill Judt's book. He has a couple of carvings showing a pair of geese in flight and it just seemed that they should be in here with Gracie.



This picture also shows you another decision dilemma. I had the water slightly raised above the line of reeds. Then, I thought, No that should come in at a little groove. Not sure why I thought that, but I started on the thought. Then, I backed off to think about it. Here you can see both situations. Which do you prefer??? I need to do more work on the reeds. They were also just a starter effort. Their function is primarily to separate the lake from the sky.

Looking ahead, I plan to stain this using a range of values. Minwax is the product. I got 5 different stains today that will range from ebony to a blonder, richer aspen color (light honey maybe). I think that range will work for the scene. I plan to take one of the photos and convert it to a sepia toned print to see how the tones will look (i.e., paint it digitally). I've not tried that before so we'll see if I can do it...or something close enough.

This is all fun, eh? Good thing it rains a lot in Oregon and the steelhead are not running yet. Smile

[CarverFromNoWhere]

Randy it looks good to me, and the reed/water line on the left side where ya started I like it that way. As for your background if you could get rid of the vertical dents I think it would look like the sky is they ran horizontal. Just my opinion and I am not much of a relief carver. Thank you for the updates it has been fun watching this piece progress, we have been thinking about heading up to Lake Superior to get some Browns and Coho, they have been catching them from shore even.
Carl

[JimSawyer]

I too like the way the reeds look. If you can do that, then the fur on Gracie should work out fine. Over all a great lookling piece. Don't get skitish on us now... I like what you've been doing. I do think you should add fur to Gracie... It will add to the piece.
I'll be watching to see what you do next.
Peace,

[Joy]

I also like the water line on the left...as I look at the picture.

A thought...would the clouds look more cloud like if the carving marks were horizontal instead of vertacle and maybe not so flat?

I like the eye without a pupil.

You are doing a great job. Thanks for sharing.

[MelNM]

Hey Randy, starting to really come out good. I definitely will buy some Aspen. Before you paint it you should check out how Makinchips uses the neutral minwax with artist oil paints. He mixes it the oil paint with the neutral in small cups to get the desired color you need.
Just an idea
Mel

[Orygoner]

Well, I think I've taken it about as far as I can although I still might put hair on Gracie. Cleaned and undercut the rest of the cattails and leaves; finished the tulies, tidied up the bordering frame; made the chisel lines horizontal on the clouds; did my best to even out the edges and other areas of the background surfaces.

I ditched the idea of texturing the sky or lake. I made a stamp but don't really like how the aspen turns out when stamped...too much tearing.

Now is the nervous part for me. The same thing happens when I get ready to paint birds. All that work and then maybe a boo-boo with the painting process. Just an ugly thought.

I dabbed some of each stain onto a piece of scrap aspen. Didn't use any sealer and it bled a bit. Don't like that much. I sealed a section of the scrap and will check again tomorrow.

Anyhow, not too much different from last night's status... but it's got a whole bunch more time in on it.

[Joy]

Randy, I think you have done a marvelous job. I think my favorite part is the geese.

I know how you feel about the staining. There are times when I consider just waxing a piece because of the intimidation factor.

[Orygoner]

Well I've decided to declare Gracie a completed work and move on.

It's OK, but I wish I had been able to get a more even result on the stain. I put on two coats of sealer (minwax) before using the Minwax stains, but I still got some uneven results and bleeding on end grain edges.

The Aspen worked, again, OK, but I think it's not the best wood for this relief carving. Too tough to get a smooth cut surface...little pulls. I got a chunk of Paper Birch over the Holidays and will try that for some larger relief carvings.

I've always wanted to do (in some media) a logging train coming over a large wooden trestle like they used to build in the heyday of railroad logging. That would certainly fit under the "larger" heading.

Anyhow, here's Gracie after her final coat of Briwax.

[CarverFromNoWhere]

That looks great Randy Thumbs Up Thumbs Up.

You should like paper birch I did a commission summer before last, I was asked to carve a family of fish like the Finding Nemo ones into a paddle for a friends cabin. Well, the paddle they found wouldn't be large enough and it was quite aged. I made a new one from some 1 1/2" thick paper Birch left over to the same shape but large and that stuff carves great just be careful if you run into the grain it will tear out easy.
Carl

[Joy]

That looks very good!

If you were just starting the staining, what would you do differently?